Guess How Many?This month's winner is Shimmy & Benny H! Congratulations! Children (and siblings) are encouraged to fill out a slip each month with their guess. (Don’t forget your last name or initial.). The envelope for guesses is on the wall next to the book and toy bins in the Clinic waiting room. The drawing is at the end of the month and a special prize awaits the winner!!

Research over the years suggests that visuals are key in learning new vocabulary and concepts. Aided language stimulation is a communication strategy used to teach symbol meaning and model language. In this approach, the communication partner combines his or her own verbal input with selection of vocabulary on the Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) system. This approach can be used during reading, play and conversation on both low-tech (pictures) and high-tech AAC devices. This provides the child with both an auditory and visual representation for each word spoken. A study by Dada & Alant (2009) explored the impact of aided language stimulation on vocabulary acquisition in children with little to no functional speech. Results of the study suggested that a 3-week intervention program in aided language stimulation was sufficient to facilitate the comprehension of at least 24 vocabulary items in four children with little to no functional speech.

Once the child has had several models, he or she can then select symbols to formulate phrases or sentences during the activity. Many children are able to formulate longer, more expanded utterances given the visual support and modeling. A study by Bruno & Trembath indicated that children who used augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems before and after a week long aided language stimulation intervention program improved their syntactic skills. It was noted that these gains were more pronounced when the participants used a manual communication board.

Overall, aided language stimulation is a great strategy for facilitating language comprehension and expression for children with a variety of needs.

Does Your Child Need Reading/Writing Support?
To kick start the new school year, Wee Speech will be offering several new language and literacy programs. First up, SPELL-Links (tm), a word study program that utilizes a systematic learning approach to apply spelling rules, patterns, and word meanings reading and spelling. This literacy focused program is beneficial for students who are struggling to read and or spell as it utilizes a speech-to-print approach with a focus on reading and writing. This strategy-based approach helps students learn how to attend to the sounds that make up spoken words and then how to apply the letter patterns and meanings to these words. For more information about the program, please contact Melanie Greenspan M.S. CCC/SLP at mgreenspan@weespeech.com.

We Continue to Learn
Wee Speech will be hosting a LAMP-Language Acquisition through Motor Planning workshop on September 20, 21, 2018 in our lower level conference room. Space is still available!

What Are We Blogging about in September?
Headphone use linked to hearing loss in children.A recent study found that children who listen to audio via headphones have a significantly higher risk of noise-induced hearing loss compared to children who do not. (more)